In The Last Hour
by Mahboisdinner
Summary: It may have been a fool's errand but she regretted nothing. As the guard, it was her duty to keep them out. Even if it was over her dead body.


_**A/N**_  
**I've never done a drabble like this, so if there's something off please tell me. I'd like some critisism on how to make it better. The general idea is that a single guard is stationed on the entrance to the Golden Palace, in the Golden Kingdom during the hours before** **the fall of the Silver Millennium and the deaths of the Senshi and Serenity and Endymion**. **I wanted to do this so that I could actually finish something I started. So please enjoy, and point out any inaccuracies**. :D

_Disclaimer- I do not own Sailor Moon, nor will I obviously profit from this fanfiction. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuichi._

The sky was nearly jet black. She couldn't tell if it was night or day. How long had it been since the sky was clearly blue? If the people had seen the arrival of the black cloud, would this state of hell be happening?

Her eyes surveyed the little that was in front of the pale golden palace. All was empty and quiet. But she knew that this was a case of calm before the storm. This guard didn't know how, but that Beryl woman had a dangerous power and should have been locked up ages ago. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and she was out there with her supporters, who believed her ravings about the people of the Moon and the Silver Millennium.

Even if Beryl passed through her, and the shield, she wouldn't come across anyone important, only some local people and staff of the palace hiding out from the possessed followers of Beryl. Certainly not the Prince, he had left a few hours before. Not that it was an easy choice. As the only guard left able to defend the palace of the Golden Kingdom, and of the Earth, she told him to go to the Moon Kingdom to protect his love, Princess Serenity, and himself. But if they did get through, it would mean that Beryl had conquered the earth. All she had to do next was…

_No_, the short hairs on the back of her neck nearly stood up on the realization that came next. If Beryl got through here, she could easily transport herself to the Moon from the palace gardens, as had the rumours suggested that both Endymion and Serenity had done so before. The young woman looked back nervously to the grand palace. Should she go back in and block those entrances as well? Would it be wise? She, the guard, knew that it would be a waste. Being the dramatic "Queen", Beryl would be likely to bring crowds of her "supporters" along with her to trash the place apart. Locking more doors would be a fruitless attempt when hundreds, if not thousands, of people came with weapons and their own strength.

And who would guard the entrance? She was all they had left of the army there, many who were off fighting away, or who had deserted. Even the Four kings of Heaven, the four head generals, had abandoned the kingdom in favour of Beryl. She could understand why some of the army would have gone and fled away from the army, due to fear or influence of Beryl. But the generals had been loyal to the Prince and to the kingdom for so long, it didn't make any sense that they should abandon now, never mind work with Beryl to bring down the Golden Kingdom and even the Silver Millennium. She, the guard, knew that at least one or two of them had soft spots for one of the famed Sailor Soldiers of the Silver Millennium.

At this time, she could relate to at least one of them, the enigmatic Sailor Pluto guarding the Space Time Door. But then again, the princess of Pluto didn't have any large mobs coming at her, looking to destroy the prince of her planet and even kill her while they were at it. Well, when you thought of it through, it wasn't much of a comparison.

It was the far off rumbles that snapped her out of her thought, and back to the present. They weren't far from the palace now.

She picked up the large sword, one she had taken from a deserting guard. She never had a weapon, but then again her status wouldn't have allowed for any, apart from something small like a blunt dagger. Even when she came to work as a guard for the Golden Kingdom, it was her magic skills she relied upon.

A group of people appeared over the horizon. Her acquired sword in hand, she took up a stance to ready herself. Her heartbeat increased, despite her attempts to calm it down. Her eyes darted around the crowds that were growing larger and larger by the second. There were a few faces that she recognised. Some she would only have known to see, but unfortunately there were some that she had been friendly with. Thankfully, none of her close friends were there.

It had been in place for a while, the magical barrier. This magic shield had kept out Beryl's forces out so far by itself, but now it needed her magic to strengthen it. As long as the guard could fight and keep up an even level of concentration to power it, the barrier would stand.

Her barrier was in place. All around the palace grounds, a barely visible but still durable barrier had been erected through her magic. Now, as the mob swarmed around the castle they were repelled from coming close to the palace or herself the guard.

The anger was there in their eyes. They yelled, and cried out for the heads of Queen Serenity and her daughter, "the Moon Witches" who enchanted the Prince. She said nothing, only keeping her stance up for fear that the shield may possibly collapse at any moment if they attacked her.

Before she knew it, a yell came out from the back of the crowd and the uproar of the crows grew quiet, but with tension that could quickly ignite into chaos.

It was her. The damn woman who was responsible for this anarchy, Beryl. The crowds parted back as the dark curly red haired woman sauntered up close as she could to the magic shield. Followed by a few strong men, Beryl took a lingering look at her.

"Is this all they have left?" She murmured coldly, turning to the crowds who were listening raptly to her voice.

"A young guard who can hardly use a weapon. I'd be insulted if I thought that this was it. People, Prince Endymion and that moon princess makes a mockery of us. We shall take this palace and then I shall go up to the Moon itself with the strongest of my troops and kill the Moon Sovereign and her foolish daughter too. They will regret that they ever interfered with the great people of earth!"

It was hardly a worthy speech of the deafening noise that followed, but Beryl's speech was somewhat inspiring to the masses even if she wasn't in any way a good orator.

"Yes, Prince Endymion will come to his senses. Earth was never to interact with the sinful planets of the Silver Millennium. The Great one, Metallica spoke of this and warned me of the seductress, Princess Serenity. I heed her words, which is why now I will show you the boundless power of our ruler, Queen Metallica as we begin the final attack on Silver Millennium…"

"I would like to see you try."

The guard stared straight into the black pit like eyes of Beryl. Maybe once they had been full of normal human emotions; happiness, sadness, curiosity. But now, all they held was anger, and a want for blood and war.

"So the guard has a voice?" Came Beryl's sneer, looking up and down the guard's short profile with drab uniform.

"Well it shall be silenced soon enough. Unless you wish to join us? You would be forgiven if you renounced now…"

"Hah, very funny." Spat the guard, contempt held within her eyes for Beryl

"It appears that the revolutionary 'Queen' has a sense of humour!" The guard mocking the now furious woman at the ridiculous concept Beryl had formed in her head with jeering laughter. The laughter promptly stopped though.

"No…nay, never. As long as I stand, the barrier does thus. My loyalties lie with the Golden Kingdom and its sovereign, Prince Endymion. I will not betray this kingdom, even if it means that I am condemned to die by you. I will die fighting if so."

The black eyes narrowed, but the distance between them didn't improve the tension. The irate crowds rose up, and started to throw stones, weapons and other kinds of projectiles at the guard, only to have them be bounced back towards them. She was startled at the unexpectedness of it, but didn't move from her spot.

"Oh, that's sweet." Beryl's scorn was clear as day, "Even the insignificant weaklings find meaning in their last hours. Oh how it touches my heart."

Her cruel face darkened, as she was handed a sword by someone.

"I'll be honest; I'd like to burst your bubble there, miss guard. The Golden Kingdom and the planet of Earth will reform to the ways of Metallica. The Prince will see; the Princess of the Moon and her mother will fall along with their sinful Silver Millennium. Either way you choose, the world will change. To my gracious and faithful followers, I'll demonstrate…"

The sword was in her hand, and Beryl raised it high above her head as pace of the wind sped up and grew colder. The blade, which had been more or less like a regular sword, transformed into a black metal as Beryl cried for Metallica to grant her powers.

Suddenly, without warning, Beryl flung the sword straight towards the guard and the impossible happened. It broke through the shield with ease, flying into the guard's shoulder.

Gasping in sudden pain, the guard fell to her knee. She attempted to remove the sword with the little strength she had left. Yet, she couldn't do so. It was like the sword was buried in deep, sucking out her energy.

The barrier fell in a few moments, not only to due her injury and the sword, but the pressure of the followers who rushed to break into the palace. The guard lay in a pool of blood that soaked into her uniform while Beryl and her followers more or less strolled onto the grounds. The guard's vision grew hazy as more blood was lost. Someone took out the sword from her shoulder, with a cackle as they did so.

Her time was up. No use trying to delaying it. The guard looked up to sky where the dark clouds had cleared in open spot. There it was, it was so far up in the sky and yet it shined so brightly, so gently. The centre of the Silver Millennium, the Moon kingdom.

She felt great regret and shame. Perhaps it was a fool's errand, but still it hurt in the place of the numbness of her organs that were slowly dying on her.

She smelt something from far off, something smoky. It could have been fires set off by followers setting off fires in the palace for all she knew. But it was time. Her eyes closed and it wasn't long before her heart stopped and she was dead.


End file.
